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By Bruce McClureOn March 20 – same date as the 2015 March equinox – the moon turns new only 14 hours after reaching lunar perigee – moon’s closest point to Earth in its orbit. Thus this moon is a supermoon – at the new phase – not visible in our sky, but having a larger-than-average effect on Earth’s oceans. Plus this new supermoon swings right in front of the equinox sun on March 20, so that the moon’s shadow falls on parts of Earth. Follow the links below to learn more.

The solar eclipse of March 20, 2015. Map by Larry Koehn. See it larger, in animated form, at his wonderful website shadowandsubstance.com.

Who will see the March 20 eclipse? Note on the worldwide map above that the path of totality (in blue) passes mainly over the frigid waters of North Atlantic Ocean. In other words, only those along that path – at high northern latitudes, near Greenland and Iceland – will see the total eclipse. The path of totality starts at sunrise to the south of Greenland, circles to the east of Greenland and Iceland at midday, and ends to the north of Greenland at sunset. The best spots to watch this total solar eclipse from land are the Faroe Islands and the Svalbard archipelago, which reside right on the semi-circle path of totality. Eclipse times for total eclipse below.A much larger swath of the world gets to see varying degrees of a partial solar eclipse (Greenland, Iceland, Europe, northern Africa, the Middle East and northwestern Asia). Eclipse times for partial eclipse below.

Partial eclipses are very beautiful, too. During the May 2012 eclipse, as the moon nearly blotted out the sun, many saw dancing illuminated crescents like these, created when the leaves of trees and bushes acted as pinhole cameras and projected the eclipsed sun’s image onto cars and buildings. This photo from Chris Walker in Dayton, Nevada.

When the new moon closely aligns with one of its nodes, the moon’s dark umbral shadow falls on Earth, presenting a total eclipse of the sun.

What causes a solar eclipse?

A solar eclipse happens whenever the new moon passes in front of the sun, and the moon’s shadow falls on our planet. A solar eclipse is only possible at new moon because that’s the only time whereby the moon to go in front of the sun, as seen from Earth. Most of the time, however, the new moon either swings north or south of the solar disk, so no eclipse of the sun takes place.The plane of the moon’s orbit around Earth is inclined at 5o to the plane of the Earth’s orbit around the sun. For half the month, the moon orbits Earth to the north of the ecliptic (Earth’s orbital plane); and for the other half of the month, the moon orbits Earth to the south of the ecliptic (Earth’s orbital plane). Twice a month, however, the moon crosses the Earth’s orbital plane at points called nodes. If the moon is traveling from north to south, it’s called a descending node, and when it’s going from south to north, it’s called an ascending node.When a new moon happens while the moon is appreciably close to one of its nodes, a solar eclipse is not only possible – but inevitable. It’s not a perfect alignment, though, as the moon reaches its descending node about 17 hours after the moon turns new. However, the new moon happens close enough to its node for the moon’s dark umbral shadow to clip the northern reaches of the globe and for a total solar eclipse to take place at along a semi-circle path at far-northerly latitudes.Want more? Try this NASA video:

You can also watch the eclipse with lightshielded welder's cutting glasses, or strong sunglasses- I've seen a few of the eclipses, without them- They are bright, but will not hurt your eyes for a few seconds- That is an old wive's tale-